AGRONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF MAIZE GENOTYPES SUBJECTED TO WATER STRESS IN THE SOUTH OF TOCANTINS STATE

ABSTRACT - The maize crop is sensitive to climatic variability and water deficit is one of the frequent causes of yield decrease. The objective of this work was to evaluate the performance of maize genotypes under water stress in the southern Tocantins State. The experiment was carried out in the municipality of Gurupi - TO, using 64 maize hybrids. A 6x6 lattice design was used, with three replications. The evaluated characteristics were plant height, male flowering, female flowering, height of insertion of the ear and grain yield. For plant height it was observed that the stress-free environment provided higher PA means compared to the stress environment. In the environment with stress, the cultivar 8 presented the highest average plant height (129, cm). No statistical difference between environments was observed in the number of days for male flowering. Regarding grain yield, the stress-free environment provided significantly higher values of grain yield compared to the stress environment. The cultivar 59 presented the highest grain yield (7317.6 kg ha-1) under stress and cultivar 9 had the highest grain yield (11551.3 kg ha-1) in the environment without stress. The results showed that maize cultivars presented different behavior regarding tolerance to the water stress. The cultivars with the lowest productivities in the environment without stress were 35 and 40. The cultivars with the highest productivities in the environment without stress were 57, 7, 15 and 61.